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Why is Docker so Ubuntu-centric?

It seems that Ubuntu is the OS of choice for Docker users.

Here at OpenMake Software we have started down the path to integrating Docker into our products and our process. We have now incorporated a testing process that relies on Docker for our test installs. I have been given the great joy of installing and building this new test environment. While I was initially very excited about the prospect, I quickly learned how difficult it can be, particularly the lack of good documentation to help along the way. Thank goodness for blogs (like this) that helps you understand and avoid some of the pitfalls I’ve encountered.

Our initial goal was to use Docker strictly in our testing environment. We now can use it for testing after several days of work to set it up.

So for those of you starting down this path my first tip is just about every dockerfile I’ve seen on docker.com and blogs uses apt-get and wget, which are available in Ubuntu but not Redhat. So you should consider setting up your environment with Ubuntu as you will no doubt have less problems. Having spent a fair amount of time as a newbie and reading everything I can find, I’ve discovered that the typical Docker article mentions Ubuntu much more than any other flavor of Linux.

It seems that most of the information on Docker depends on Ubuntu, so going down a different path as a starting point is ill advised. More on this and similar topics to come as I go down the path of setting up a new way of testing, and managing software deployments.